A collection of deliberately placed letters into the formation of words to reveal the ramblings of those who are sporadically inspired to share what they know and care about.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

My name is....

My name is Frantastic™, and I'm a tech-ho. There I said it. That's the first step in admitting you have a problem. (If it was a problem....but it's not.)

Sad, apparently I'm still a titch in denial. If it's new and shiny and techy and has gigabyte or megabyte or terabyte or RAM or HD or inputs/outputs or pixels or software or hardware or operating systems or App Stores or App Worlds or........ok, ya.....see, I have a problem.

The very first digital camera I purchased was the Sony Digital Mavica MVC-FD7, it saved pictures on a floppy disk, FLOPPY DISK. You remember those? The kicker is... you inserted said floppy disk INTO the camera, you can just imagine the size of this thing. It was expensive, took reasonably good pictures (300,000 pixels or some such thing - compared to the 15+ MEGApixel cameras of today) and it was large. Brought it out of the box the other day to show a friend and that sucker is HEAVY. None of my current computers even have floppy disk drives anymore. Ha! Joke's on me...I guess. I have been upgrading by megapixels year after year and it seems the better the image the smaller the unit. Magical.

There is something about the SMELL of new technology. The slightly pungent aroma of plastic with rubber and bits of metal it's.... intoxicating. The arrival of a new tech toy results in hours of gratification. The precise, meticulous unsealing of the outer packaging, it is crucial since one doesn't want to damage the precious contents. Then the interior box which has the pretty graphics and specs of the techy gem. (This box is what holds the techy grail, I keep these...always. I keep them with all the paperwork that came with my gadget. Remember, it's a sickness.) After I carefully pull said item from the squeaky foam protective pads, I go through the brochures/booklets/instructions/warranties etc. I don't actually read them (see this post for my take on reading) I rifle through making sure all the pieces that are supposed to be there, are. Then I briefly pick through the attachments (chargers, ear pieces, batteries, cases, screen protectors etc.)....and then....(cue choirs of angels) the gadget! I spend a few moments looking at it, turning it around and over, looking for buttons, switches, ports, inputs, outputs....just admiring the design, structure and build. And if you watch me closely, you'll see me gently, yet swiftly bring it up to my nose, so I can smell it. Remember the smell I mentioned earlier? It is magical.

This is the point where the manufacturer either earns immediate praise or a few choice words; does the unit require charging? or is there enough juice in the unit when it's packed that I can play with it immediately? This is BIG. Having to wait for 4 hours for a full charge before I can even turn on the gizmo is disturbing. It is excruciating to have to wait and watch, checking for a green light, blinking light or red light. Hovering. Checking it's status every time I walk by. If any gadget manufacturers are reading this.....keep that in mind.

If my new gadget has been blessed with enough charge to operate (or I have patiently, not so much, waited for a full charge light to glow) then my techy toy is turned on and I begin my journey through the wonderment that it is, in full powered-on glory.